Live updates: Officials ‘confident’ temporary shoring has stabilized buckling NYC high-rise

Key Points:

• Structural columns buckled at a Midtown Manhattan building under construction, leading to evacuation and protests accusing developer MetroLoft of unsafe practices and insufficient union labor involvement; the cause of the failure is under investigation.
• MetroLoft founder Nathan Berman attributed the issue to faulty column supports overloaded by added upper floors and denied claims that non-union labor compromised safety, emphasizing the company’s use of qualified contractors.
• The New York City Department of Buildings is conducting a full investigation, including a forensic evaluation by a third-party engineer, to determine the cause and prevent future incidents; meanwhile, crews are stabilizing and planning to replace the damaged structural elements.
• Union workers, including Steamfitters Local 638, played a key role in spotting the structural problem and facilitating evacuation, while also protesting the predominance of non-union labor on site, which they say may have contributed to the failure.
• MetroLoft insists the building was never at risk of collapse, stating that stabilization efforts have rendered the structure safe and that the incident affects only a small portion of the project, which remains on schedule for completion.